My Online Sharing Policy for Family and Newborn Photos

The internet and social media feel like a war zone for many parents, with landmines everywhere you look. Should I share my kids online? If I do, how much do I share? Do I have a private instagram account or is public okay? If I do have a private, who do I allow access to those images? Do I share the hard moments to feel connected with other moms or do I keep that to myself? That’s just for us as parents!!!

I now have preteens and it’s a whole new can of worms with them wanting social media to connect with their friends and be in the loop, all while being more sensitive to what I’m sharing on my platforms. Plus, what the heck do we do about devices and screen time and texting and access to the internet?!

Then there’s me, sitting here as a photographer who has a job where people need to see my pictures online to know whether they want to work with me.

So I’m going to be honest with you and tell you my real feelings on all of this and explain exactly how I share family and newborn photos online. I personally don’t share my kids names, school, or even where we live on my public instagram page. I don’t even share those things on my website. I don’t tell anyone how old they are or their birthdays, and I never publicly share personal information about them. While I would never judge a family for making different choices in this realm, my stance is that I will extend that same privacy to my families. When posting on social media or my blog, I never use anyone’s names, say where they live or show the outside of their home in the case of in-home sessions, or share any personal identifying information. That includes not sharing images where babies names are shown in newborn photos. I also do not post ‘Happy first birthday’ posts, or share photos of Fresh 48s with any details on my families near when they were in the hospital. If you are curious as to what I say about my families on social media, you can see my posts here.

My standard contract in my booking page includes a model release that allows me to share your photos on social media and my website and advertising. If you are uncomfortable with any or all of those forms of sharing, even knowing the privacy protects I stated above, I will absolutely always honor your wishes. You can choose to exclude social media, only allow photos that don’t show your kids faces, or not release any photos for sharing in any form and that is completely okay! Just send me a note before booking and I will send you a written agreement to keep your photos private.

You have a right to whatever privacy you are comfortable with with your family and newborn photos and I will never charge an extra fee or push back on that request. Some families absolutely love seeing their faces on my front page and on social media and repost immediately, and some are a strict ‘no share in any capacity’, there is no right answer, only what feels best for your family.

I want you to always feel safe and protected and respected and I’ll do whatever I can to do that!